


Slow Down

by Punkrock_Kate



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Anxiety, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Depression, F/M, Friendship/Love, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Old Friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 06:47:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7212175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Punkrock_Kate/pseuds/Punkrock_Kate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby Osset is returning home for summer break for the last time. Her family is moving away from Columbus, Ohio, after summer ends and leaving their friends and old life behind. With this in mind, Ruby made a commitment to her best friend to spend the summer with him and try to reconcile her friendship with Josh Dun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slow Down

I never thought I would leave Columbus, Ohio, and never come back. The weather was my favorite part of Ohio. It wasn't too hot in the summer and it was just right in the fall. The people were my second favorite thing about Columbus, Ohio. Most notably, my family and Tyler Joseph, who I'd known since middle school. Tyler was just... Relatable. He was home. He was my brother from another mother and my best friend until the end of time. 

I pulled into my parents' driveway and turned off the car. They didn't know that I was coming home a few weeks early to see the house before they began packing. I suppose part of the reason I came home so early was to relive the memories I had here with Tyler and my brothers. This was my childhood home, the house I grew up in. Moving into this house was my first memory. I thought for the longest time that sleeping in it would be my last. 

The wind blew and made the trees sway to the side. I took that as my signal to get out of my hand-me-down Chevy and took my backpack out of the passenger seat. I took a glance at the house and noticed a mature face smile wide and run from the window. Before I knew it, the front door opened and both of my brothers, aged twelve and fifteen, ran out to greet me. 

"What are you doing here, Ruby?" The twelve year old, Sam, asked excitedly as he hugged me tightly. Oliver pulled him off of me and hugged me as well. They both tried to act like they didn't miss me much, but my parents told me that every time I called home there was a fight between them to answer the phone first.

"I figured I'd surprise you all. Where's Mom and Dad?" I questioned. 

"Dad's still at work and Mom's making dinner," Oliver answered. I followed them inside and Sam stuck to me like a koala to a tree. Mom was the person I was most excited to see. I owed her so much, because without her I wouldn't have had the motivation to make it through college. Or through life, for that matter.

"Mom! We have a surprise for you!" Sam called out. I heard my mom call from the kitchen and Sam and Oliver led me there.

"Hey, Mom," I greeted her shyly. She turned around quickly and squealed with delight before hugging me. The past few months were rough on our family for numerous reasons. And one of them had to do with me.

"You're home early. Did you say hi to Tyler yet?" She asked me. Tyler was basically her son. We were inseparable throughout school, and that meant that my parents saw him everyday.

"Not yet. I was going to get my room set up first and spend time with you guys before I went over there," I told her. Both of my parents thought that Tyler and I would be a cute couple, and I admittedly did too at one point, but we were strictly best friends. I already lost connection with one of our friends after we dated, and the last thing I would ever want to do was lose Tyler.

"You really don't have to invite him over now, Mom," I told her. "I'll see him tomorrow." My mom laughed softly and stopped stirring whatever it was she was cooking.

"I want you to go see him today. I think it would be refreshing for you to see a familiar face after what happened," she explained. I tried not to notice how her expression changed when she mentioned it. It wasn't fair that she had to live with the fact her only daughter had crippling depression.

"I'll see him eventually. I want to catch up with my family first," I promised. She smiled and took a drink of her wine. She drank periodically, never enough to become dependent on it.

"You're catching up with me now," she replied and leaned against the counter. "Go see Tyler." 

I was about to argue with her when I felt someone pick me up by my waist and twirl me around the kitchen. I saw my mom laughing and didn't fight the one who picked me up. When he put me down, I turned around and faced Tyler Joseph. He had the goofiest smile on his face and was the happiest I'd seen him since sixth grade and I wanted him to stay like that forever.

"You told me you weren't going to be here for another three weeks you jerk!" Tyler joked. I smiled and hugged him tightly.

"Surprise, Ty," I whispered. Tyler held me tighter and we stood in my kitchen without saying a word. I never wanted to let him go again.

"We got all of your stuff, Ruby!" Oliver called to me. I gave my mom one more hug and Tyler followed me to the hallway where Sam and Oliver left my boxes. I picked up the heavy one and Tyler followed me upstairs with the smaller one. I couldn't remember the last time Tyler and I were up there. It must have been before I left, or the night Josh said he never wanted to see me again. 

Tyler opened my bedroom door and set his box down on the floor next to my dresser. My room used to be painted bright colors during my childhood years, but over time it turned into a dark red. My Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana posters were still hanging on the wall above my bed along with other posters and awards scattered throughout. My desk was sitting on the other side of the room and contained pictures from graduation and talent shows that I won with Tyler and his brother, Zach. But there was one picture that I noticed of me, Tyler, and Josh. We were in our caps and gowns and had huge smiles on our faces. Josh was standing in between us and had his elbow resting on my head. He always said it was because I was so abnormally small. I would reply that I was still better than him at basketball, to which he would laugh at me and lay his head on my shoulder. 

"Hey, Earth to Ruby," Tyler said as he snapped his fingers to get my attention. I looked away from the picture and blinked away my tears. There was a heavy weight in my chest pressing up against my ribcage and making it hard to breathe. 

"Do you still see him?" I asked Tyler. Tyler looked down at the floor and back at the picture. He didn't want things to work out the way they did between me and Josh. He wanted the three of us to be together for the rest of our lives. But Josh and I were two drastically different people. I was flame and he was oil and together we spelled disaster. 

"Yeah," Tyler replied. "He asks about you a lot." I snorted and walked over to my boxes. A part of me wanted to believe him, but I also remembered how much he hated me the last time I saw him.

"Don't pretend you don't care, Ruby," Tyler snapped. "You guys can still be friends, and I know you love him too much not to at least want to reconnect somehow." I pulled out the books I took with me to college and put them on my bookshelf. I knew he was right about wanting to reconnect with Josh. We hadn't talked since I left for college and it took a toll on Tyler's relationships with both of us. It would be for the better if I just sucked it up and talked things out with Josh, but I wanted him to talk to me first and make an effort. Or at least let me know I wasn't annoying him and wasting my time on old memories.

"You're right, Ty, I do care. But there's no point in trying to talk to him to work things out. He never answered any of my calls and if I showed up at his house he'd probably just answer the door to slam it in my face. I screwed up, man. He's never going to forgive me and I honestly can't blame him." I sat down on my bed and let out a sigh accompanied by tears. Tyler sat down next to me and held my hand. We sat on the bed for about five minutes when Tyler jumped up and snapped his fingers.

"I got it! I know how to get Josh to talk to you!" He pulled me onto my feet and stood in front of me with a big smile on his face. He said: "You can come over to my house and hang out with us, and meanwhile I'll invite Josh over after he gets off work and tell him we're watching a movie and surprise him. He'll have to talk to you then." Tyler looked so excited, and I didn't want to tell him that Josh would still probably ignore me.

"It's a good plan, Tyler, it really is." I replied, trying to let him down easy. "But who's to say Josh isn't going to see me and ignore me the whole night? I want it to work, but it takes two to tango and I just don't think he's going to go along with it." Tyler's face fell and looked around the room before looking back at me. I hated upsetting him. I hated it so much. 

"Can we please try just to say we did? I hate seeing you two fight. Please try it and if it doesn't work I won't bother you about it ever again," he begged. I hugged him tightly in response.

"I'll try. I promise I'll try."


End file.
